vector

English

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vector

Wikipedia

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“I carry, I transport, I bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle.

The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense.

The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: vec‧tor
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛktə/
• (US) enPR: vĕk'tər, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛktɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

Noun

vector (plural vectors)

2. (mathematics) A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.

   Hypernym: tensor

   • 1914, The New Student's Reference Work:

     As examples of vector quantities may be mentioned the distance between any two given points, a velocity, a force, an acceleration, angular velocity, intensity of magnetization flux of heat.

3. (mathematics) An ordered tuple representing such.
4. (mathematics) Any member of a (generalized) vector space.

   The vectors in ${\displaystyle {\mathbb {Q} }}$ are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is ${\displaystyle \textstyle x^{42}+{\frac {1}{137}}x-1}$.

5. (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
   • 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:

     I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast.

7. (epidemiology) A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
8. (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
   • 2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker‎:

     These days, their primary job is to insist that Facebook is a fun place to share baby photos and sell old couches, not a vector for hate speech, misinformation, and violent extremist propaganda.

9. (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
10. The way in which the eyes are drawn across the visual text. The trail that a book cover can encourage the eyes to follow from certain objects to others.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
11. (computing, operating systems) A memory address containing the address of a code entry point, usually one which is part of a table and often one that is dereferenced and jumped to during the execution of an interrupt.
12. (programming) A kind of dynamically resizable array.
    • 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694:

      To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […]

13. (computer graphics, attributive) A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.

    Coordinate term: raster

    a vector image, vector graphics

14. (molecular biology) A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.
15. (figurative) Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

vector (third-person singular simple present vectors, present participle vectoring, simple past and past participle vectored)

1. To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.
   • 1994, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies:

     […] if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor's here flies toward Marianne, Marianne's in turn toward Willoughby.

2. (computing) To redirect to a vector, or code entry point.

Derived terms

• thrust vectoring

Translations

References

• The New Oxford Dictionary of English

Anagrams

• Covert, corvet, covert

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vectōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

vector m (plural vectors)

1. vector

Derived terms

• pseudovector
• vectorial

Further reading

• “vector” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛk.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vec‧tor
• Rhymes: -ɛktɔr

Noun

vector m (plural vectoren, diminutive vectortje n)

1. (mathematics) vector, an element of a vector space

Derived terms

• eenheidsvector
• eigenvector
• normaalvector
• nulvector
• raakvector
• vectoralgebra
• vectoranalyse
• vectordifferentiatie
• vectorlimiet
• vectorproduct
• vectorruimte
• vectorvermenigvuldiging

Galician

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Noun

vector m (plural vectores)

1. vector

Derived terms

• vectorial
• vectorizar
• vectorización
• vector propio
• vector unitario

Latin

Etymology

vehō +‎ -tor

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯ek.tor/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvek.tor/,

Noun

vector m (genitive vectōris); third declension

1. bearer, carrier
2. passenger

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Related terms

• vectīgal

Descendants

Verb

vector

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of vectō

References

• “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • passengers: vectores (Phil. 7. 9. 27)
    

Portuguese

Noun

vector m (plural vectores)

1. Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1990) of vetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French vecteur, Latin vector.

Noun

vector m (plural vectori)

1. vector

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beɡˈtoɾ/
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: vec‧tor

Noun

vector m (plural vectores)

1. vector

Derived terms

Further reading

• “vector”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014